Montreal prior to the end of the 1896 season. The "World Series" Era Before the 1914–15 season, a new agreement was reached in which the respective champions of the NHA and the Pacific Coast Hockey Association would face each other for the Cup, similar to baseball's World Series played between the American League and National League champions. This agreement effectively ended the Challenge Cup rule in which a new champion was crowned after it won the title of the previous champion's league. However, the 1915 Ottawa Senators, the 1916 Portland Rosebuds, and the 1918 Vancouver Millionaires all engraved their names on the Cup even though they did not officially win it under the new system. The NHA dissolved in 1917, and the National Hockey League (NHL) took its place. Then after the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) was born in 1921, it was agreed that all three league champions would play for the Cup. The PCHA and the WCHL later merged to form the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1924.† - Engraved their name on the Cup despite only winning the league title of the previous champion.. The NHL takes over the Cup, and the "Stovepipe" The WHL folded before the 1926-27 season began. As a result, the Cup has since been awarded to the annual NHL champions. Once the Cup became, effectively, the NHL championship trophy, the engraving of the Cup winner's information became a consistent annual tradition. This means that no Cup winning team has been missed since the 1922-23 Ottawa Senators chose to leave their name off the Cup. Originally, a new band was added almost every year, causing the Cup to grow in size. Thus, it became commonly referred to as the "Stovepipe Cup" because of its resemblance to the exhaust pipe of a stove. It was also occasionally called the "cigar" Cup or the "elephant's leg" Cup for similar reasons. The 1948 redesign With the Stovepipe Cup becoming impractical because of its ever-increasing height, the NHL decided to redesign the trophy. The base of the Stovepipe Cup (all of the bands before the New York Rangers' 1928 ring) was moved back to the top directly under the bowl. A new shoulder collar was added below, onto which only the names of the previous winning teams were engraved. This new shoulder includes all winning team names only. The 1908, 1910 Montreal Wanderers, 1911 Ottawa Senators, 1918